This invention relates to fish egg baits. It pertains particularly to a process of making from fish eggs, particularly salmon eggs, improved bait eggs which more closely resemble natural fish eggs, with respect to their tactile and optical properties. In particular, the fish egg bait which is the product of the process of the present invention resembles natural fish eggs more closely than do the fish egg baits of the prior art with respect to plumpness, color, degree of translucency or transparency, and by being plastic or rubbery to the touch.
As is well known, salmon eggs are a natural food for trout, which coexist with the salmon in the spawning streams. For this reason salmon egg bait is a preferred bait for trout and has been available commercially for long period of time.
To be suitable for this use, the fish egg bait of commerce must fulfill several requirements which are difficult of fulfillment.
Thus the eggs should be plump and have a normal shape and appearance. Their consistency should be uniform and plastic. Their color should be appropriate. They should be large enough to make it possible to impale them successfully on a hook. They should be tough enough so that when so impaled they will remain on the hook and withstand the stresses of casting. Their taste and texture should not be distasteful to a biting fish.
Some of the prior art processes for the preparation of fish egg bait, for example that disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 2,951,761, have relied upon a combination brine, formaldehyde and heat treating process for toughening and preserving the eggs to make them suitable for use as bait. While the bait eggs produced by the prior art processes constitute a substantial article of commerce, they universally are hard and opaque and have a whitish color, in which important respects they are dissimilar to natural eggs. In an attempt to camouflage the eggs and overcome their unnatural color, it is conventional to dye the present day fish bait eggs with red dyes. However, this does not mask entirely the unnatural appearance of the bait.
It accordingly is the general purpose of the present invention to provide a fish egg bait and process for making the same, which bait is characterized by being translucent to transparent, rather than opaque; plastic or rubbery to the touch, as opposed to hard; and of a natural fish egg color, rather than white.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fish egg bait and process for making the same, which bait is plump and of relatively large size so that it may be impaled satisfactorily on a fish hook; which is tough so that when so impaled it will withstand casting; and which may be preserved effectively and consequently when marketed has long shelf life.